The moon has long been considered an inert place where the lunar dust is only disturbed by the occasional impact from a meteor.

But researchers have discovered that, despite not having its own atmosphere, the moon may experience 'weather' of its own.

They have found the stream of particles thrown out by the sun in solar wind appears to interact with the moon in an unexpected and surprising way.

The moon (pictured) was thought to absorb the solar wind on the dayside, which is always exposed to the constant stream of particles thrown out by the sun, but new research suggests some of the solar wind is reflected back into space by the surface. This is also believed to be causing weathering on the night side too

On Earth these particles interact with the gases in the atmosphere to create colourful aurora while the planet's magnetic field concentrates it around the poles.

The moon, however, lacks both an atmosphere and a global magnetic field, and so was thought to passively absorb the solar wind without any noticeable effects.

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Measurements made by India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter have now revealed this is not the case, and in fact 10 per cent of the solar wind is reflected back into space.

This creates turbulence in the solar wind streaming past the moon causing vortexes that billow onto the dark side of the moon, which should be sheltered from weathering by the solar wind.

The researchers have been able to map the areas of the lunar surface where the solar wind is reflected with areas marked in red being where the solar wind is reflected most (pictured)

On Earth the solar wind is bent towards the poles where it interacts with the gas in the upper atmosphere to create the spectacular aurora, or Northern Lights (pictured). The moon has no atmosphere or global magnetic field and so this does not happen there

The researchers said this could have important implications for how much water may exist on the surface.

Charles Lue, a researchers at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics at the Umea University, who conducted the work as part of his PhD, said: 'This knowledge is of great importance to the lunar space environment which is affected both on the lunar dayside and nightside surfaces.

'The effects can even be seen in the form of visible light - like bright swirls imprinted on the surface of the moon.

Charles Lue has found certain regions of the lunar crust reflect the solar wind differently depending on their magnetic field. He holds a model of the moon (pictured) with the areas of strongest reflection marked in red

'The observations help us map and understand the variations in the lunar space environment.

'They also give us clues about the physical processes involved and the long-term effects they have on the lunar surface.'

Mr Lue, whose work is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that the reflection of the solar wind interacts with areas of localised magnetic fields on the lunar surface.

ANCIENT DEBRIS GAVE OUR MOON ITS STRANGE TILTING ORBIT

Researchers have unravelled the mystery of why our moon has a strange orbital tilt which causes it to pass between our planet and the Sun to cause an eclipse only occasionally rather than monthly.

They claim the moon was jostled into its current position through a series of close encounters with large lumps of debris left over from the formation of the inner planets 4.5 billion years ago.

Perhaps more astonishingly, the scientists say these same space rocks are also responsible for delivering precious metals like gold and platinum to the crust of our planet.

Astrophysicists have long been baffled by the peculiar incline of the moon's orbit relative to the Earth's own orbital plane.

Researchers estimate that as few as five large objects left over from the formation of the inner rocky planets of the solar system could have been enough to nudge the moon off its initial orbit around the Earth (illustrated)

The satellites of most other planets tend to orbit in a path that is in line with the parent planet's equator.

If the moon orbited our own planet in a similar way, we would likely experience monthly solar eclipses as it passes between the Earth and the sun.

However, the moon orbits at an angle of 5 degrees off the Earth's own orbital plane around the sun and spins on an axis that is actually tilted towards our own planet.

This results in a far less regular solar eclipses.

Given the Moon is thought to have formed from debris ejected by the impact of a planet-sized object shortly after the Earth formed, it should have an incline ten times smaller than it does.

Kaveh Pahlevan, an astrophysicist at the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur in Nice, and his colleagues believe they have discovered the reason for this discrepancy.

They say large moon-sized lumps of debris, or 'planetesimals', passing close to the Moon could have kicked it off course and when combined with tidal energy from the Earth's gravitational pull, would have resulted in its current orbit.

In areas with strong magnetism, caused by iron in the crust, the solar wind flow is restricted, while adjacent areas receive increased flow

This results in unusual spirals of ions streaming off the dayside of the moon, where the solar wind strikes first, to the nightside.

Mr Lue said it appears the weathering of the moon's surface by the solar wind may be less than previously predicted and this could mean there may also be less water hidden beneath the crust.

He said: 'The reduced solar wind weathering allows us to separate micro-meteorite and solar wind-induced weathering, including the effects of different solar wind species, differently well shielded.'